The usual winterizing procedure for a swimming pool involves cleaning the pool, applying chemicals to keep the water free from algae and bacteria, the chemicals also including an anti-freezing agent to keep the water from freezing with the concomitant expansion of the ice which could burst the pool. Swimming pool covers are commonly used when a pool is not being used to prevent contamination by debris and the like, to reduce water evaporation and loss of purifying chemicals, and to guard against unauthorized use or at least to advise the observer that the pool is closed to use. During the fall and winter seasons, most outdoor swimming pools are not in use and falling leaves and debris driven by winter storms often find their way into such pools. Owners or those who are charged with maintaining outdoor pools are, therefore, forced to cover their pools or face expensive cleaning operations each Spring.
A wide variety of pool covers is available for keeping debris out of outdoor swimming pools while they are not in use during the fall and winter seasons. However, many of the existing pool covers allow many gallons of rainwater, snow, ice, and unwanted debris to build-up on the cover. This not only causes the cover to sag under the weight accumulation of the water and debris but also increases the possibility of contaminating the pool water with algae, dust, and dirt that are often mixed with the collected water.
For example, many present pool covers are typically large tarpaulins shaped to overlap the perimeter of a pool. The tarpaulins are held tautly in place by stakes or eye bolts fixed in concrete. A disadvantage attending the use of tarpaulins for covering pools lies in the fact that the same debris which would contaminate the underlying pool if left uncovered accumulates on the tarpaulin surface instead. Any other material falling on the tarpaulin's surface, including rain and snow, likewise accumulate on the tarpaulin surface increasing the likelihood that the tarpaulin will be over stressed and torn. The accumulation frequently causes the cover to sag in the center, causing a collection of water and debris to form a pool in the center of the cover.
If the tarpaulin pool covers does not sag, but remains taut, it has a significantly unfortunate capacity for camouflaging the danger posed to small children by swimming pools. The flat surface presented by a tarpaulin pool cover often appears to a child to be a surface upon which they may walk. Inability of the tarpaulin and/or its tethering posts to support the weight of a child can have obviously tragic results.
Still further, many pools have special shapes which makes it nearly impossible to provide a single, off-the-shelf pool cover thereby necessitating a custom pool cover which can be very expensive.
It would, therefore, be advantageous for outdoor pool owners, maintainers, and small children living in the vicinity of a swimming pool to provide an apparatus which elevates the pool cover at the center, thereby, decreasing the sagging which causes the accumulation of debris, water, and snow on its surface. The elevation causes the cover to distinguish itself from surrounding ground surface by rising above ground level. The apparatus also should be easily adapted to pools of various shapes.